Equine épicé or horse vindaloo

In light of the recent outcry in the news about tainted horse meat lasagna  and other debacles I thought it might be nice to post a recipe that ACTUALLY meant to have horse meat in it. As is the trend with this blog Tom and I like, in part, to address cuts or types of meat that are often perceived as odd or outright wrong. Horse definitely falls into this category.

Many individuals are sheepish about engaging in the consumption of horse meat because we see the horse as a nobler beast, like the dog or the cat, that is not meant for consumption. Yet in reality the nature of horse in terms of use exclusively for work and leisure is not necessarily seen as universally paramount. And in this sense, just like beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken etc... horse has been a dietary staple in many places for many years. This concept of ironic perspectives on the foods we eat is well addressed and delved into in more detail in the infamous cookbook "Unmentionable Cuisine" by Calvin W. Schwabe, well worth a read.

I have had horse meat on a number of occasions. It is an interesting product to buy in that it typically gets its own freezer "section" in the pre-cut grocery store meat and more typical for diverse cuts of horse meat there are dedicated Equine butchers. It was once told to me that exclusive horse meat butchers exist because there is some chemical level difficulty that if horse meat is sold fresh next to other meats (beef, pork, etc...) that there is something in the horse meat that will quickly corrupt the other meat varieties rendering them rancid. This is the tale I was told but I have yet to be able to confirm it, though I can't say I really looked high and low for evidence. I was confident in the source who told me so I just took it at face value. Whether it is lore or law it is no big difference. Equine butchers exist. I would one day like to try horse ribs, I think they would make for a tasty slooooowwwwwww cook dish.

                                  

I find horse meat to be a little tougher than beef as well as a little richer in flavour. It, to my tastes at least, has a stronger "meaty" taste, if you will allow this horribly ambiguous descriptor to stand, that makes it a bit sweeter as well as noticeably different from other cuts of meat, almost moving closer towards the range in which heart meat would fall...but still a long way from true heart meat in taste...just heading that way.

So down to brass tax. I set out one day to make a horse vindaloo. This vindaloo is in no way particularly special in terms of a unique vindaloo. Rather it is a typical vindaloo with the unique use of horse meat. So we whipped up a spicy horse vindaloo and it went something like this:

Ingredients
200-300 grams horse meat, cubed
1 tsp. cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp. turmeric
5 cloves garlic
8 Thai chilis (vindaloo is meant to be very hot. You can choose the spicy peppers you like and how many you want to use for your own preference of heat of course).
1-2 star anise
500 grams of tomatoes
1 tbsp. ginger paste
ghee or butter or oil
mango pickle--as you like
2 tsp. garam masala
salt
black pepper

How It Is Done:
1.) using the garlic, ginger and chilis combine these three items in a dish and puree making a paste.

2.) in a large pan add the desired amount of ghee or butter or oil. Once liquid add to this the cumin seeds and pan fry for ~1 minute or until slightly browned.

3.) once this occurs add the ginger-garlic-chili paste to the pan and fry for ~1 minute further.

4.) add the turmeric, garam masala, a little salt and the mango pickle.

5.) at this time add the tomatoes to the mix. If pureed or not pureed you can allow this mix to cook for ~3-4 minutes until everything is very soft and then puree this mixture to a smooth consistency.

6.) when you have the pureed base sauce add the cubed horse meat and the 1-2 star anise. Let this concoction simmer over low heat for ~30-40 minutes, or longer, until a desired sauce consistency for your preference has been reached. Close to the time when the dish is done you can add a little black pepper if you like. This is added so late to keep the black pepper taste, so it does not "boil off" so to speak.

This dish will feed a fair amount of people, ~4-6?, or will give you lots of leftovers for later lunches/dinners. In reading this you might think "why the heck did he add mango pickle?" This is a good and fair question. It was just a preference I had. I experimented with this idea once and it worked nicely, so I like to add the mango pickle for the unique tangy-tart taste it imparts.

That is pretty much it, I hope you enjoy.

I-PP-I-SS-I-SS-I-M


Huck